Microsoft Office

11 Best Keyboard Shortcuts for Outlook 2007

If you’re like me, Microsoft Office Outlook is pretty much your home-base while you’re at work. Outlook 2007 is the latest version of this ubiquitous email client, and it is much improved over its predecessors. I use it for everything from the normal correspondence, to task-lists and appointments, to even a little bit of data storing and information management.

With so many things going on in Outlook at any given time, those in the “Getting Things Done” (GTD) ultra-high-productivity camp probably think that keeping everything straight and minimizing mouse navigation is a nightmare in Outlook. Well, it doesn’t have to be!

With these handy keyboard shortcuts for Outlook 2007, you can get things done more efficiently, and get the feel of an email ninja as you whip from page to page, message to calendar item, to task, and much more!

Best Outlook 2007 Keyboad Shortcut: Single Key Reading

First up, the arguably best of the best Outlook shortcut: Single Key Reading. This option lets you scroll through an email message, switch to the next message, and repeat by only hitting the spacebar. It’s the quickest simplest keyboard shortcut that I can think of for Outlook, but it’s tremendously useful for those who just want to quickly skim a few messages in their inbox. Also, you can do the same thing going backwards by holding shift and then pressing the spacebar.

Here’s how you can enable/disable this feature. On the Tools menu, click Options.

Here are ten more useful keyboard shortcuts that should satiate your productivity appetite when working with Outlook 2007:

CTRL + R – Reply to a message

CTRL + F – Forward a message

CTRL + PERIOD – Switch to the next message (works only if you have a message open)

CTRL + COMMA – Switch to previous message (works only if you have a message open)

CTRL + SHIFT + K – Create a task

CTRL + SHIFT + A – Create an appointment

CTRL + SHIFT + Q – Create a meeting request

F11 – Enter a name in the Search Address Books box

F3 or CTRL + E – Go to the Search box

F6 or CTRL + SHIFT + TAB – Move between the Navigation Pane, the main Outlook window, the Reading Pane, and the To-Do Bar

That’s quite a few to remember, and this should get you to a good start. To find the complete list of Outlook keyboard shortcuts go to the official Outlook 2007 product page. Here you can find a keyboard shortcut for anything you want to do faster. The shortcut topics range from Basic Navigation, Search, and Email, to Color Categories, Macros, and different types of Views. So have fun and enjoy!

And if you’re really looking to master Outlook 2007, then make sure to check out our comprehensive Outlook 2007 Training which offers over 11 hours of hands on instruction.